Over the past few months more than a dozen of us have been on a journey together to reconnect with our roots as a United Methodist Church, and to find our place in God!s story. We learned about John Wesley, his passion for living a faithful life devoted to a deep relationship with God while reaching out to others beyond the church walls to do the work of God. Wesley!s three rules for Christian life--do no harm, do good, and love God--are relevant for our lives today.

Through the study we examined our faith and what has been important for our own spiritual journeys. We reflected on the people in our community who are different from us and how we might remove barriers by seeing them through Christ!s eyes of love and hope.

We learned about Wesley!s emphasis on discipleship through small groups that met to study and hold each other accountable for living according to those three rules. At the conclusion of our seven week study our reflection and enthusiasm led us to visioning for families in need within our congregation and in our community. We identified the story of Pentecost in the book of Acts 2:1-4 and 2:42-47 as the biblical story that describes our Erie United Methodist Church today.

We feel a sense of awe and wonder at the Holy Spirit at work among us, and perhaps as those who studied with John Wesley did, we sense the fellowship among our congregation and welcome all people to join with us. We care for each other and those outside our church generously. And we are continuing to pray and study the Bible and grow in our walk with Christ.

Our renewed sense of the Holy Spirit among us led us to our vision. In our joy to present this vision we see a two pronged approach focusing both on our spiritual growth and on service to others inside and outside the church. Our vision is “Erie United Methodist Church... Growing in Christ to serve others!” In joining us to launch this vision we hope to use this to guide everything that we do as a church, and not be something that is shoved in a drawer. This was taken to the Administrative Board, voted on and adopted as our vision.

We can already see how our work together centers around this vision. We are growing in Christ through worship, by discovering our spiritual gifts, by joining in Sunday School or other studies, and through prayer. We are serving others by using our spiritual gifts to serve others both inside and outside the church, by giving through the church budget and other opportunities (i.e. UMCOR, Food Bank), and by giving our time (i.e. Erie Town Fair, Erie Community SHAREFEST). We encourage you to prayerfully consider where you fit in, and to join us on the journey as we Grow in Christ to serve others!

Those who joined us on the journey were George Bachelder, Marilyn and Ray Bundy, Alice Clark, Carole Craig, Barbara Earl, Shirley Fischer, Becky Lesser, Violet Ann MacTavish, Felicia and Mike Powell, Evelyn Smith, Marjorie Smith, Joanie and Jim Calhoun, and Linda Freund.

We hope to see you soon! Pastor Jim Calhoun